What it actually means.
E-E-A-T (formerly E-A-T) is a quality framework documented in Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines. The four letters stand for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Google added the second 'E' (Experience) in December 2022 to emphasize first-hand experience over secondhand knowledge.
For local businesses, E-E-A-T shows up as a ranking factor for content quality: who wrote it, do they have credentials, is the business itself trustworthy. Lawyers, doctors, financial advisors, and other YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) verticals get the most scrutiny.
Practical applications: real author bios with credentials (not 'Admin' bylines), schema markup that ties authors to Person entities, consistent business identity across the web, accurate professional licensing claims, and content that demonstrates first-hand experience rather than generic regurgitation.
What this looks like in practice.
- A dental blog written by the dentist herself, with her DDS credentials visible and a link to her state license verification, scores higher on E-E-A-T than the same content with no author attribution.
Common mistakes we see.
- Hiding your team behind 'Admin' or 'Staff Writer' bylines. Real, attributable authorship is one of the cheapest E-E-A-T wins available.